Residents of Japanese island will vote on Sunday about controversial plan to move US military base

Voters on the Japanese island of Okinawa will vote this weekend in a referendum on the relocation of a US military base. They are expected to overwhelmingly reject it, but the government has indicated it will ignore local sentiment and press ahead.

The Nato alliance is about decency and dependability, not just cash and contributions, Germany’s defence minister has said in a rebuke to Donald Trump over his insistence that European countries rapidly increase their defence spending.

Ursula von der Leyen told a gathering of defence ministers in Munich the alliance was about fairness in collective decision-making, and not just during military missions.

General tells Senate committee US and allies still at risk and regime’s military training continues unchecked

The commander of US forces in South Korea has said he has seen “little to no verifiable change” in North Korea’s military capabilities, just weeks away from a second summit between Donald Trump and regime leader Kim Jong-un.

Hope is real after landmark Taliban talks, but fears remain about what might happen if US troops depart

The start of 2019 has brought for Afghanistan a tantalising hope of peace, fragile but very real, as the Taliban sat down for talks first with Americans in Qatar and this week with senior members of the Afghan elite in Moscow.

Taliban meetings with Afghan powerbrokers, following negotiations with the US, hold out the prospect of an end to this long conflict. But women are especially and rightly concerned about the possible price

Gen Joseph Votel, head of Central Command, warned Isis will continue to pose a threat following US withdrawal

The US military commander overseeing American troops in the Middle East has told a Senate hearing that he was not consulted ahead of Donald Trump’s surprise decision in December to pull US troops out of Syria.